Taylor tops Marian on Rader's OT goal

Senior Jeremiah Rader scored with just over a minute remaining in the second overtime to lift Taylor to a 1-0 home-victory over Marian on Wednesday night.

With the clock ticking down in the 109th minute, the Knights (6-5-1, 2-3 CL) were called for a high kick just outside of their own goal, which warranted a free kick for the Trojans (4-7-1, 1-3-1 CL). Junior Michael Maloney took the free kick and tapped it a couple inches to Rader, who lofted the ball over the large wall of defenders and hit the upper-right 90, securing the team’s first Crossroads League win of the season. Rader now has three goals for the year and Maloney has two assists.

The Trojans had a 14-11 shot advantage and place four on-goal, compared to Marian’s five on-target.

Junior Luke Williams kept the Trojans alive with a last-second save. Regulation was in its final seconds and the Knights beat TU’s backline and were one-on-one with Williams, but he made a sliding save to preserve the tie and send the match into overtime. Williams made five saves.

In a five-set thriller, Taylor (11-14, 6-8 CL) grabbed the victory over Spring Arbor on Wednesday.

Senior captain Haley Harrell put together a great night orchestrating the Taylor offense with 44 assists, including eight in the crucial final set.

The Taylor defense was dominant with three Trojans collecting double-digit digs, including Samantha Korn, Haley Harrell and Ashley Harrell. Korn posted her third 30-dig effort on the season.

Julia Pomerenke and Grace Isaacs provided a strong attack from the middle. Pomerenke hit a career-high 13 kills and hit at .375 hitting percentage. Isaacs was also extremely efficient with a .389 hitting percentage to go along with her nine kills.

The RV Taylor women’s soccer team suffered a 1-0 loss to Crossroads League foe No. 17 Marian on Wednesday night.

With the game inching closer to overtime, the Knights (8-3-2, 3-1-1 CL) pushed an 84th minute goal into the back of the net. With the victory, Marian now has 10 points in the league standings and have won three matches in a row.

The Knights’ strong defense was able to keep the pressure on TU (9-3-2, 2-3 CL) all night and limited the visitors to only six shots, tying the squad’s second-lowest shot output of the season.